Class Outline:This 2-hour workshop will be led by Poet Laureate of Tacoma, Tammy Robacker, and is designed to explore Ekphrastic Poetry for poets and writers of all skill levels. Workshop attendees will spend time examining and discussing existing, canonized Ekphrastic poems by poets who confront paintings by artists such as Picasso, Pollock, Van Gogh, Duchamp and others. Then students will be given the opportunity to write their own Ekphrastic poetry in exercises that respond to samples of paintings/artwork provided at the workshop. Last of all, students will share their written work aloud in a round-robin fashion for gentle critique and commentary by the group.

Coping with trauma and pain is often the price of admission to a creative life. How can you harness those life experiences or memories--oftentimes painful or uncomfortable--recall them, write about them, and then turn them into poems?

Join Urban Grace Soul of the City Poet Laureate of Tacoma, Tammy Robacker, as she leads her next Poetry Writing Workshop on WRITING DEEPLY. This 2 hour writers workshop will focus on reading topic-relevant poetry on emotionally difficult subject matter, writing exercises, discussion, reading and sharing of each others work. This will be a supportive poet's environment focused on listening and helpful suggestions for improvement rather than intensive critique.